The choice of IMET Coach was a challenge, given that experts in this field are in short supply. Based on its management procedures, CEW followed a process ranging from the call for applications to the contracting of an IMET expert, a park curator in Northern Cameroon who braved the 700 km distance between his base and the implementation site several times. Thanks to his experience and ability to teach an adult audience, the workshop to fill in the IMET tool went off without a hitch. Organized in the deliberation room of the Ngog Mapubi town hall, the workshop was attended by some thirty people (sub-prefects, mayors, forestry and hunting station chiefs, municipal councillors, communal executives, population representatives, members of the peasant forestry committees, local guides and traditional chiefs from the two arrondissements). During the workshop, discussions were open, ambiguities and concerns were cleared up, and recommendations were collected.
- Think about launching a competitive tender in time to select the coach.
Coaches' agendas are sometimes too full, as they have other important duties to perform
- Once the coach has been selected, intensive discussions are held with him/her on the project, planning, the minimum conditions required to carry out the IMET, and the preparation of the players ....
- The open dialogue reassures the stakeholders of their involvement, but is often punctuated by tense phases when the coach uses his experience to calm things down.
- In the end, the exercise is mutually enriching for the actors/stakeholders and also for the coach, who learns to adapt the tool to a communal forest.